Femme On

Jess speaks to journalist and producer Kitty Busz about When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. Kitty explains where she was in her life when she first read this book, and why she always keeps it close by. We talk about grief, death and dying, and the honesty and beauty in Paul’s words.

Follow Kitty @wanderingkb

Follow Jess @jess_bdavies 

Visit Jess’ blog: sixhundredwordsonlife.com

Alyson and Ria (host of Femme on Film, Pop Guerrilas and founder of the Femme On Collective) talk about the HAND FLEX from Joe Wright’s film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (watch the scene here on YouTube here) starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennett and Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy. They talk about how this is the sexiest non-sexual scene in the world, thank you female gaze! And how they appreciate watching a scene and a movie that taps into the mystery of attraction. And of course, they can’t help but fangirl out a bit on Jane Austen. We’re guessing they’ll be a full episode of Femme on Film devoted to this very movie sometime soon.

Come have a listen!

Ria’s Twitter and Instagram: @riacarrogan

Alyson’s Twitter and Instagram: @byalysonshelton - Alyson’s Website: www.alysonshelton.com

The alphabet is awesome. In this episode, the Collective discuss letters. This is a totally normal question. As is getting excited by letters.

Ria and Ada get back together to discuss Dickinson season two.

Find Ria @riacarrogan on Instagram
Find Ada @aa_mccartney on Instagram and visit her website: https://aa-mccartney.medium.com/

More of Swanee's Work: https://caswanee.wordpress.com 

Order Valkyrie Poetics: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1267708843/valkyrie-poetics-85x55-chapbook-by   

Connect with Swanee on Discord: Swantares#8308

Heathen Women United - http://heathenwomenunited.org/
Diane di Prima inspiration from this recording in the Naropa University Archive:
http://archives.naropa.edu/digital/collection/p16621coll1/id/869/rec/7
Samuel R Delany book on Writing: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/about-writing-delany/

Erica Vital-Lazare is a professor of creative writing and Marginalized Voices in Dystopian Literature at the College of Southern Nevada. As a recipient of grants and awards from the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Hilliard Endowment, and the Nevada Arts Council, she is co-producer of the photo-narrative installation Obsidian & Neon: Building Black Life and Identity in Las Vegas, co-founder of the Obodo Collective, and editor of the Of the Diaspora, a series revisiting classic Black works in literature with McSweeney’s Press.

Support The Obodo Collective on Instagram @theobodocollective and at their website: https://www.obodocollective.org

https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/unlvmuseum/exhibition/seeing-seen

Tonya's Twitter and Instagram: @Tonya Todd - Tonya's website: www.mstonyatodd.com

Alyson and Anjali Bhimani (actress from Ms. Marvel on Disney+, voice of Symmetra from Overwatch and Rampart from Apex Legends) talk about a scene from The Newsroom (watch the scene here on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wELqR2F5KjA) starring Emily Mortimer as Mac and Olivia Munn as Sloane. They talk about how not every important scene between two women needs to pass the Bechdel Test and how these two brilliant women show us why. 

P.S. It’s not covered in the episode, but Anjali and Alyson met and became friends in college, and they talk about their careers, love lives and everything in between, just like Sloane and Mac.

Anjali’s Twitter and Instagram: @sweeetanj - Anjali’s Website: www.anjalibhimani.com

Alyson’s Twitter and Instagram: @byalysonshelton - Alyson’s Website: www.alysonshelton.com

Martha Engber lives an exciting double life as a fitness guru by day and author by night. Her creativity is tied to movement, the reason she unintentionally extended her youth activities into adulthood by becoming a fitness instructor the day she graduated from journalism school at the University of Missouri - Columbia. With over 30 years in the fitness industry as a teacher and trainer, she’s seen trends come and go and understands the importance of movement for emotional, mental and intellectual health throughout life, especially for women during hormonal changes.

Her fourth book, “Bliss Road,” will be published 6 June 2023. A memoir about growing up in a neurodiverse family, Martha includes many instances in which movement saved her mental health. Martha invites you to connect via her website: MarthaEngber.com.

The first episode for Literature for Life has Jess talking with junior doctor Krista Bose about the play Death and the King’s Horsemen. We talk about death, tradition, the patriarchy and why learning about cultures that are not your own is so important. We also talk about Krista’s experience as a cancer patient, which she blogs about beautifully on Instagram. 

Follow Krista: @squashingmysarcoma

Follow Jess (the host) @jess_bdavies

Follow Krista’s dog! @gatsbythesproodle

You can also take at look at Jess’ blog @sixhundredwordsonlife and DM her if you’d like to share your own story.

Ria asks: "When you were a kid did you add sugar to every cereal you ate, if so, which sugar?". The gang unexpectedly segue into a discussion about alcohol and alcopops. That's the beauty of Ria's questions.

Ria asks a lot of questions. Kevin made them into a website. The Femme on Collective answer one of Ria's questions every month. This episode they discuss the worst textures they have eaten. What will take the top spot? Let us know what's the worst texture you have ever eaten and we'll discuss in it a future episode. You can email us at [email protected] or leave a comment on Instagram @femmeoncollective

Ria's questions: riasquestions.com

Thank you to Tony for our brand new Ria's questions song!